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The Messengers of Longinus
'The Messengers of Longinus' '' Purpose: To spread the word of the Dark Prophet to those who have not heard it, and visit it again upon those who have not taken it to heart. ''Doctrine: ''They find the weak, the uncertain, and the needy, promising them the answers they seek (and preparing them for the answers they'll actually get). They are incredibly persistent in this goal, and employ strategies ranging from the mundane - seduction, fear-mongering, brow-beating and stalking - to the extraordinary - such as Dominate. They've also been known to alter the facts to suit the target, such as revising passages from the ''Testament ''to make them more palatable. Anything that results in a legitimate conversion is fair game. Since the 1950s they have used American sales techniques and psychology to sell their faith. *Cultivate Endurance. Sometimes getting the convert means wading knee-deep through a swamp to take the Word to a Nosferatu. Sometimes it means spending a year holding the hand of a distraught neonate. As long as it ends in a conversion, it's worth it. *Know Your Target. A Messenger must know how a target regards himself, what mortals he is close to and where his moral compass points are to plot out a suitable conversion strategy. *Isolate Your Target. A potential convert can't truly hear even the wisest message if he's attuned to the secular words of his coterie. *Place Empowers Role, So Choose Your Place Wisely. Most city or covenant roles distract from their mission, but the role of Harpy can be a very useful level - primarily when its power is ''not ''used. *Sit With Your Target. People are most receptive to messages from those who are similar to themselves. The Messenger must put herself on the same level as the target she is trying to convert. *Don't Preach to Prey. It's not a vampire's role to nourish the souls of mortals; it is the task of the mortals to nourish the bodies of the Kindred. ''Membership: ''The Messengers are a proselytizing faction of the Lancea et Sanctum. They prefer Daeva and Ventrue, who tend to have the subtlety and poise the Proselytizer's work requires. They like beautiful, charismatic charmers - even Kindred make the unconscious assumption that what is beautiful is good. 'Benefits' • The Messenger is awarded the title of Shepherd, and a mentor who teaches him the guidelines of the Messengers, gives him a crash course in sales psychology and explains the basics of 'reading and writing body language'. This relationship seldom lasts more than a few weeks, and does not therefore qualify for the Mentor Merit. The character does, however, receive a free specialty in either Empathy (Weakness) or Science (Psychology). •• Targets respond more positively to clean, attractive individuals. Messengers receive full makeovers tp maximize their natural potential - which they are expected to will into permanency. This is reflected by the Striking Looks (•) Merit. If the character already has Striking Looks (•), it is upgraded to (••). ••• To effectively isolate a target, it's frequently necessary to discredit his companions - or at least what they've been telling him. Doing this without making themselves look bad, however, requires some training. Messengers learn Etiquette (••) free of charge. •••• If you can get your target excited, you've won. The character receives the Anointed Merit. ••••• It's all about the sale, even when you're selling religion. The most successful Messengers learn to talk circles around their targets, reflected in three free dots of the Fast-Talking Merit. '''Source' ''The Lancea Sanctum, ''161-165. Category:Cults Category:Factions Category:Translations Category:Lancea Sanctum